Death with Dignity National Center
Encyclopedia
Death with Dignity National Center (DDNC) is a nonprofit organization
located in Portland, Oregon
which has led the defense of and education about Death with Dignity laws throughout the US
. It partners with Oregon Death with Dignity Political Action Fund, a 501(c)(4), which lobbies to enact Death with Dignity laws in other states.
.
After the successful collaboration of the Death with Dignity Alliance starting in 1997 three of the organizations in the alliance—Oregon Death with Dignity, Oregon Death with Dignity Legal Defense and Education Center, and Death with Dignity National Center—merged and became Death with Dignity National Center and Oregon Death with Dignity Political Action Fund in 2004. Another alliance member, Compassion in Dying, later merged with End-of-Life Choices (formerly the Hemlock Society
) and became Compassion and Choices.
A few prominent and long-standing board members include Eli D. Stutsman, Betty Rollin
, and Timothy Quill:
case Gonzales v. Oregon
.
The organization has assisted with efforts to pass Death with Dignity laws in other states such as Maine in 2000 and Hawaii in 2002. The most recent effort led to the voter approved Washington Death with Dignity Act
in 2008.
Non-profit organization
Nonprofit organization is neither a legal nor technical definition but generally refers to an organization that uses surplus revenues to achieve its goals, rather than distributing them as profit or dividends...
located in Portland, Oregon
Portland, Oregon
Portland is a city located in the Pacific Northwest, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, making it the 29th most populous city in the United States...
which has led the defense of and education about Death with Dignity laws throughout the US
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. It partners with Oregon Death with Dignity Political Action Fund, a 501(c)(4), which lobbies to enact Death with Dignity laws in other states.
Mission
"The mission of the Death with Dignity National Center (DDNC) is to provide information, education, research and support for the preservation, implementation and promotion of Death with Dignity laws which allow a terminally ill, mentally competent adult the right to request and receive a prescription to hasten death under certain specific safeguards. We promote Death with Dignity laws based on our model legislation, the Oregon Death with Dignity Act, as a stimulus to nationwide improvements in end-of-life care and as an option for dying individuals. We accomplish our mission by working to defend and promote Death with Dignity laws in court, and in the court of public opinion through our nonprofit Death with Dignity National Center [501(c)(3)], and by working directly with public policymakers through our affiliated Political Action Fund [501(c)(4)]."History
In 1993 Oregon Right to Die, a political action committee, was founded to draft and pass Oregon's Death with Dignity ballot measure 16. After Measure 16 passed in 1994 the Oregon Death with Dignity Legal Defense and Education Center was founded to defend the voter approved law. Also in 1994 the Death with Dignity National Center formed in Washington DC to help defend and promote Death with Dignity laws throughout the United StatesUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
After the successful collaboration of the Death with Dignity Alliance starting in 1997 three of the organizations in the alliance—Oregon Death with Dignity, Oregon Death with Dignity Legal Defense and Education Center, and Death with Dignity National Center—merged and became Death with Dignity National Center and Oregon Death with Dignity Political Action Fund in 2004. Another alliance member, Compassion in Dying, later merged with End-of-Life Choices (formerly the Hemlock Society
Hemlock Society
The Hemlock Society USA was a national right-to-die organization founded in Santa Monica, California by Derek Humphry in 1980. Its primary missions included providing information to dying persons and supporting legislation permitting physician-assisted suicide. In 1992, following the publication of...
) and became Compassion and Choices.
A few prominent and long-standing board members include Eli D. Stutsman, Betty Rollin
Betty Rollin
Betty Rollin , has been an NBC News correspondent and author.Rollin's reports have won both the DuPont and Emmy awards. She now contributes reports for PBS's Religion and Ethics News Weekly....
, and Timothy Quill:
- Eli D. Stutsman, J.D. is Death with Dignity National Center's founding board member and co-author of the Oregon law. On behalf of the Death with Dignity National Center, Eli represented Oregon pharmacists and physicians who were threatened prosecution by John AshcroftJohn AshcroftJohn David Ashcroft is a United States politician who served as the 79th United States Attorney General, from 2001 until 2005, appointed by President George W. Bush. Ashcroft previously served as the 50th Governor of Missouri and a U.S...
. - Betty RollinBetty RollinBetty Rollin , has been an NBC News correspondent and author.Rollin's reports have won both the DuPont and Emmy awards. She now contributes reports for PBS's Religion and Ethics News Weekly....
has been an NBC News correspondent, New York Times best selling author and Death with Dignity activist. She's written five books including First, You Cry (1976) about her experience with breast cancer and Last Wish (1985) in which she recounts helping to hasten her mother's death. - Timothy E. QuillTimothy E. QuillTimothy E. Quill is an American physician specialising in palliative care at the University of Rochester Medical Center in Rochester, New York. He is also a board member of the Death with Dignity National Center in Portland, Oregon. Quill was the lead plaintiff in a case that eventually reached the...
, M.D. is a Professor of Medicine, Psychiatry, and Medical Humanities at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry. He is the author of several books on end-of life, including Physician-Assisted Dying: The Case for Palliative Care and Patient Choice (2004), Caring for Patients at the End of Life: Facing an Uncertain Future Together (2001), and A Midwife Through the Dying Process: Stories of Healing and Hard Choices at the End of Life (1996).
Political Activism
Through its different organizational structures over the years, Death with Dignity National Center has played a central role in defending and upholding Oregon's Death with Dignity law, culminating in the Supreme CourtSupreme Court of the United States
The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest court in the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all state and federal courts, and original jurisdiction over a small range of cases...
case Gonzales v. Oregon
Gonzales v. Oregon
Gonzales v. Oregon, 546 U.S. 243 , was a decision by the United States Supreme Court, which ruled that the United States Attorney General could not enforce the federal Controlled Substances Act against physicians who prescribed drugs, in compliance with Oregon state law, for the assisted suicide of...
.
The organization has assisted with efforts to pass Death with Dignity laws in other states such as Maine in 2000 and Hawaii in 2002. The most recent effort led to the voter approved Washington Death with Dignity Act
Washington Initiative 1000 (2008)
Initiative 1000 of 2008 established the U.S. state of Washington's Death with Dignity Act , which legalizes physician-assisted dying with certain restrictions. Passage of this initiative made Washington the second U.S. state to permit some terminally ill patients to determine the time of their own...
in 2008.